Living and Loving – Viviendo y Amando

Quick Tropical Cheesecake Trifle – SabrosoSaturday

If you follow Sabroso Saturday, by now you know I enjoy desserts and sweets. No matter how delicious the entrée, I always want a little something afterward.

This recipe from Kraft includes lots of fruits and several shortcut ingredients. The pound cake, Philadelphia cheesecake filling, jam and coconut flakes can be stashed in the freezer, refrigerator and pantry. The cheesecake filling is available in classic and key lime flavors, which makes me visualize a whole family in the kitchen at once. Kids assembling mini-cheesecakes while the main meal is cooking. Or, while the man of the house is barbecuing, mom and kids can stay indoors to make dessert.

My mom used to buy Sara Lee pound cake when I was growing up. We could barely keep it in the house, because my sisters and I would run into the kitchen, open the freezer and sneak a mini-slice every so often. I remember the cake sticking to my teeth. This was the time before microwaves became a necessity. Now I know it takes ten seconds to heat up a full serving, which would be one-fourth of the tin.

When last-minute guests drop in, I would suggest cutting the cake into four slices to defrost in the microwave, then cutting each slice into cubes for use in this trifle. To make preparation even easier, use frozen or canned fruits – drain the juice and mix with the jam (or use the juice instead of the melted jam) to drizzle over the top of the cake cubes.